I figure this should be a new topic because this is an improvement that should really be made. I'll grab a few quotes from the '
Adding Multiplayer/LAN to Dwarf Fortress' though.
Yes, it could have been a troll who knew multiplayer gets suggested a lot. My point is that someone new here would have no way of knowing their suggestion sounds trolly. There's no notice telling new members to search, or that multiplayer is a frequent suggestion.
At the top of the page...
BEFORE POSTING A SUGGESTION
Check our development pages. You can find everything in one place at this link.
Search for an existing thread. If you find a thread similar to your idea, you can bump it to expand on the suggestion, even if the thread is old. However, please do not bump threads just to show support.
Oh wow. I somehow didn't notice that. Don't mind me then. Carry on.
Actually, should we ignore that? Even though I would expect new posters to the forum (especially new posters to any forums in general) to miss something like that, I would think it an issue if other players are missing that.
I mean, I know I saw that blurb of text before posting in this board, but at the same time I know I saw the thread titles for the Stickied threads long before I saw the blurb. In my case as well, I only saw it because I was confused as to where the guidelines for posting suggestions or posting anything in the board might be and actually specifically went looking for them somewhere, anywhere.
Its in plain sight, centered in the screen when you click the link to the suggestion subforum. I don't think its too much to ask people to read stuff explaining what to do in the forum. If you don't, well, as Ron White says "You can't fix stupid." But don't expect those of us who do read instructions and follow them to be all sunshine, cupcakes, and smiles when the millionth thread for "OMG NEW IDEA!!1!11! #4301" comes along. Argue that it should be made more visible, say there should be a cookie that shows you've been on this board before, and if you haven't make it dim the forum and have a message box with it pop up, but not that we shouldn't expect people to read it and follow it.
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Now then, I'm going to make one little argument first before I make my suggestion, in regards to the above. The last person I quote makes the statement that the 'Rules are in Plain Sight, centered in the screen'. I would note however that the Guideline Notice located in the Forum Header is 'Hidden in Plain Sight'.
As of now, the Guideline Notice simply serves as 'Noise', and people will just scroll down past it without even reading it. I don't know about most people but the Forum Header isn't usually where one finds things like Rules or Guidelines, so I would think it would be expected if people don't even bat and eyelash at it.
Way back in school sometime ago, I was taught about a Marketing Experiment that had occurred, involving a
Great Violinist who played in a busy Washington Metro Station. I won't go into the details, you can read them up yourself, but the results were that even though he was a great Musician, no one really stopped to listen to the music as they were too busy rushing off to wherever.
In the context of this situation, I would note one of the important things that should be noted here, '
Positioning': The Guidelines Notice is Poorly Positioned where Nobody Sees It. The Guidelines Notice that appears above the Suggestion Board is in a poor position that people are rushing by, and thus not noticing. Unless someone specifically and actually deliberately goes looking for the Rules or Guidelines for this Forum, the chance for them to Notice the Guidelines Notice is low.
The results of people not reading the Guidelines can pretty much be what can be expected - people creating new threads on existing topics, wondering if thread necromancy is shunned in this board, or suggestions like
Restrictions to the Suggestions Board.***********
a) My suggestion would simply be either the creation of a new board in the forums that would just consist of Rules/Guidelines for the forum, and potentially other Information that might be relevant to be added into such a forum (the last forum I was on simply called the Forum 'Info, Rules, & Announcements as an example).
And/Or
b) The creation of a stickied/announcement thread in the Suggestions board (or other relevant boards) specifically for the Rules or Guidelines of this board.
The reason for this is because most experienced forum users have a pre-conceived notion of where to find Rules or Guidelines for a specific board or a board specifically dedicated to such things as Rules and Guidelines, but most who might come here might simply assume that there is none, or that there is simply just some hidden code that everyone on the forums follows.
Disclaimer: I don't necessarily think that this will help cure new posters from posting additional Multiplayer threads or the like either as well. However, I think that such a thread might go a long way to informing people a little more about the rules.
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Topic: Rules and Guidelines Board or Threads for Individual Boards (Read 1343 times)